Device having vibrating reeds



March 3, 1959 J. M. B. A. WUYTS 2,

DEVICE HAVING VIBRATING REEDS 4 Sheets-Shet 1 Filed June 16, 1954 Inventor $445.4 WUYTS B i W A ttorney March 3, 1959 J. M. B. A. WU YTS DEVICE HAVING VIBRATING REEDS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 v m a m\ m WW Rx m V \N 9 ww wmww W M AMQQ w 8 N :m--- m 1| A mum n n mm 0 N h Filed June 16, 1954 1 Inventor 14 07/15v By a Y i Altdrney J. M. B. A. WUYTS DEVICE HAVING VIBRATING REEDS March 3, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 16, 1954 order to permit its practical use.

DEVICE HAVING VIBRATING REEDS Joseph Marie Bernard Albert Wuyts, Antwerp, Belgium,

assrgnor to International Standard Electric Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application June 16, 1954, Serial No. 437,206 Claims priority, application Netherlands July 9, 1953 7 Claims. (Cl. 340-359) The invention relates to a vibrating reed. signalling device.

In certain systems for automatic telephony or radiotelephony, the dialing device of the subscriber comprises an armature between the branches of which there is provided a reed tuned to a certain frequency. A coil surrounding this reed picks up the currents induced by the vibration of the reed in the double poled field of the armature. The reed is set into vibration by the intermedience of a mechanism controlled by the subscriber. An example of such a system is described in the U. S. patent specification No. 2,393,790.

In such apparatus the electric power, picked up in the receiving coil, associated with a vibration reed, is very weak, and therefore must necessarily be amplified in The provision of a local amplifier at the subscriber, however, involves various problems of increased cost for amplifying equipment.

The object of the invention is to obviate these disadvantages and to provide a dialing device for a plurality of frequencies which delivers at the subscriber a useful amount of signalling without the necessity for amplifying the energy.

In accordance with the feature of the invention, the vibrating reeds, which are tuned at different acoustic frequencies, are fixed to a diaphragm with elastic suspension, the said diaphragm being connected with a movable electrode of a microphone transmitter.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, these vibrating reeds are individually submitted to the action of a mechanism controlled by a push button.

According to another feature of the invention, the operation of the mechanism may be direct or indirect, that is to say that during the depression of the push button the reeds will vibrate or they will be made to vibrate upon the release of the push button.

The invention will be better understood described with reference to the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a plan view of a portion of the apparatus, with the cover thereof removed;

Fig. 2 shows in side elevation, partially in vertical section, a view of the transmitter button and of a part of a vibrating reed of the apparatus;

Fig. 3 shows a side elevation, partially in vertical sec tion of the push button mechanism acting upon the free end of a vibrating reed, while the device is in rest position;

Fig. 4 shows a cross-section of the push button mechanism;

Fig. 5 represents a vertical cross-section of the device with the push button mechanism in the intermediate position of depression;

Fig. 6 shows a vertical cross-section of the device with the push button mechanism in the final position of the depression; and

Fig. 7 shows a vertical cross-section of the device in operative position during the release of the push button mechanism.

United States PatentO 7 2,876,445 Patented Mar. 3, 1959 The transmitter button 1 comprises a dish-shaped part 3 consisting of one or more pieces having an outer edge 4 and an interior surface 5 of electrical insulation, whereby the part 3 is electrically insulated from the casing 2.

The small aperture 6 at the bottom of the dish-shaped part 3 is covered by a disc 7 serving as a fixed electrode in which the latter by means of a contacting piece 9 is clamped to a thickened rim 8. The large aperture 10 at the top of the dish-shaped part 3 is covered by the diaphragm 11 which extends thereacross and which may be manufactured of a suitable material (e. g. silk). In the center, diaphragm 11 is provided with a hole which is integral with a shoulder 12 of the movable electrode 13 and is held firmly against said shoulder by means of an intermediate annulus 14 secured to this same electrode and which compresses the diaphragm against the shoulder from beneath the diaphragm. The periphery of the diaphragm 11 is fastened to the edge of the dish-shaped part 3 by a suitable adhesive.

One end 15 of this electrode 13 extends into the dishshaped part 3 whilst the other end is formed as a bolt thread 16. The button 1 is filled with arbitrarily shaped granules 17 of carbon. The button 1 is maintained in a recess 18 of the casing 2 by means of a clamping annulus 19 which is clamped onto a protruding flange 20 extending from the box 2, surrounding this recess as a rim. An insulating washer 21 is interposed between the clamping ring 19 and the protruding flange 20 of the button 1.

Attached to movable electrode 13 is a metal diaphragm 23 which, at its center hole, is mounted over the bolt thread 16 and held by means of a nut 24 and a washer 53. Diaphragm 23 is insulatedly suspended at its periphery at five equidistant points therearound by means of rubber cushions 25 and 26, each threaded on a screw 27 extending through the diaphragm 23 and secured to the frame 2. For example, the screws 27 extend through apertures such as 56, provided at the periphery of the diaphragm.

A plurality of vibrating reeds, such as 28, are each secured at one end thereof to the diaphragm 23 (see Fig. 1) and are mounted extending radially outwardly therefrom and equidistantly spaced by means of supports such as 29 and 30 raised over diaphragm 23, which supports are secured to diaphragm 23 by means of screws 31 and 32 extending through the support and the diaphragm 23 and which are screwed to a plate, such as 33 which lies beneath diaphragm 23. Reeds 28 all have the same length and they only vary in thickness or in width in order to obtain the proper frequencies to differentiate them mutually. They may, however, dilfer in length, and to this end, and also to facilitate the adjustment of these reeds, radial slots, e. g. 54, have been provided in the diaphragm 23 so as to enable the radial displacement of the reeds 28 in this manner. The reeds are uniformly distributed around the socket, though they may also be distributed in non-uniform manner.

The free end of each reed 28 extends to a point in proximity to a plunger 34, and as shown more clearly in Fig. 3, each plunger comprises a push button 35, a stem 36, a pawl 37 and a resetting spring 38.

The stem 36 of the push button 35 is guided by guiding openings such as 39 and 40 which are respectively provided in a crown piece 41 secured on the casing 2 and in the bottom wall of the casing itself. As shown in Fig. 4, the stem 36 is provided with a slot 49 for receiving the pawl 37 which itself is secured by'me'ans" of a screw 43 about which it may pivot. The opposite ends of pawl 37 are longitudinally terminated at one side by sworn 4'4 and at the other sideby a tag 45 of suitable shape to engage the end of the feed. The tooth 44 and the lug 45 are mutually connected by the body of the pawl 37 by suitable rounded portions such as 46, 50, 51 and 52.

The resetting spring 38 is slid over the stem 36, and exerts its tension between the crown 41 and the top of the recess 35a in push button 35 into which it partially extends. Under the action of this spring 38, the stem 36 is so influenced that the body of the pawl 37 remains against the under side 41a of crown 41, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. In this manner the plunger 34 assumes its rest position. A cover 55 covers the casing 2 and is provided withppenings through which the push buttons 35 pass. in Fig. l the cover is removed. When the button 35 is depressed (Fig. the stem 36 will be displaced together with the pawl 37 in the direction of the arrow F1 so that the tooth 44 abuts against a stop 47 inside the casing 2 extending in a direction of the path of tooth 44. The stop 47 will cause the pawl to pivot in a counter-clockwise direction, as shown in Fig. 5. The pawl 37 will not take a slanting position before the lug 45 reaches the free end of the corresponding reed 28. The pawl 37 then remains in that slanting position until the lug 45 abuts against the bottom 48 of the casing, while at that moment the lug 45 and the rounded surface 46 tangentially act upon the bottom 48 in order to return the pawl 37 in a clockwise direction, as shown in Fig. 6, to take a position normal with respect to vertical, the normal position being identical to the initial position (Fig. 3). As soon as the plunger 34 is released (Fig. '7) the stem 36, due to the tension of the resetting spring 38, is moved in the direction of the arrow F2, so that the tooth 44 of the pawl 37 abuts against the under side of stop 47 which causes the pawl to turn in a clockwise direction, and the tooth 44 will contact the bottom of stop 47 at the moment that the lug 45 contacts the free end of the reed 28. Tooth 44 will then rub against the inside surface 47a of stop 47 and the pawl 37, now being urged by the counter-force of the spring 38 at the pivot screw 43, will thereupon act as a lever for displacing the reed 28 by means of its lug 45 as shown in Fig. 7. The rounded edges '50 and 52 facilitate the rocking movement of the pawl 37.

The pawl 37 remains in its slanting position as long as its tooth 44 abuts against the inside surface 47a and meanwhile the reed 23 will spring from contact with the lug 45. The pawl will remain in the slanting position until the lug 45 and its rounded portion 51 contact with the under-side of the crown piece 41. Under the action of the spring 38 which has not yet completely expended its tension, the pivot screw 43 will press the body 42 of the pawl 37 against the crown piece 41 causing the pawl 37 to be restored to its initial horizontal position of Fig. 3. In this figure, as well as in Fig. 4, a portion has been broken away to more clearly show the guiding openings 39 and 40, but it is obvious that the pawl 37 in its extreme positions will assume a horizontal position against either the crown 41 or the casing 2.

Meanwhile, a released reed 28 will be permitted to vibrate at its own frequency and will communicate this vibration to the diaphragm 23 which in turn transmits the vibration to the movable electrode 13 as a result of which the button 1 will make the current traversing same, vary at the frequency of the reed 28. These current variations may be compared with those of the speech currents in the case of an ordinary transmitter button and therefore it is not necessary to locally amplify these current variations. The reed 28 vibrates in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the diaphragm '23 and thus the carbon granules 17 are packed in a direction parallel to the direction of movement of the reed. Maximum excitation of the carbon is thereby achieved.

The above described device may be used in any suitable manner and in particular in a telephone set where it may serve to modify the impedance of the subscribers loop at the frequency corresponding with the vibrating reed.

The above described device has an indirect operation, that is to say the reeds, such as 28, may only be set into movement when releasing the plunger 34. However, it is also possible within the scope of the invention, as shown in Fig. 3, to move reeds, such as 28, during the depression of the plunger, such as 34. In that case, however, the reeds such as 28', shown in dotted lines, should be provided above the stop 47, so that first the reed 28 is taken along by the lug 45 and subsequently the tooth 44, cooperating with the inner edge 47, will hold the lug 45 out of contact with the reed on the return movement of the plunger.

The sequence of the movements may be clearly under stood from the shown figures. In that case, however, the position of the button 1 should be matched to the new position of the reeds, such as 28.

While I have described above the principles of my invention in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of my invention as set forth in the objects thereof and in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A signalling device comprising a circular diaphragm, a plurality of reeds, means for radially mounting said reeds on said diaphragm parallel to the plane thereof, respectively independent means associated with said reeds for selectively causing said reeds to vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the plane of said diaphragm, transmitter means, and means for mounting said diaphragm on said transmitter means in direct vibration conducting relation therewith.

2. A signalling device, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said mounting means comprises a plurality of mounting blocks radially disposed around said diaphragm intermediate the center and the periphery thereof and fastening devices for fastening one end of said reeds to said mounting blocks and said diaphragm, whereby said reeds extend in a common plane and vibrate in a direction normal to said plane.

3. A signalling device, as claimed in claim 2, wherein said means for selectively causing said reeds to vibrate comprises a plurality of independent manually operated reed vibrating devices, each associated with a different one of said reeds adjacent the free end thereof, said devices adapted to be moved in the direction of vibration of said reeds.

4. A signalling device, as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a circular casing having an aperture in the center thereof, said transmitter means attached to said casing, and a plurality of resilient coupling devices for attaching the peripheral portion of said diaphragm to said casing adjacent said aperture.

5. A signalling device, as claimed in claim 4, wherein said transmitter means comprises a transmitter button having a transmitter diaphragm, said button attached to said casing and adapted to extend into said aperture, and fastening means for fastening the center of said diaphragm to the center of said transmitter diaphragm.

6. A signalling device, as claimed in claim 4, wherein said means for selectively causing said reeds to vibrate comprises a plurality of push-button assemblies, one adjacent the free end of each of said reeds, each of said assemblies comprising a plunger, spring means to normally urge said plunger upward, and a pawl pivotally mounted on said plunger intermediate the ends thereof, said pawl having a pair of teeth, one tooth extending from 5 either end thereof, one of said teeth adapted to strike the free end of its associated reed, upon movement of said plunger, said other tooth adapted to cooperate with said casing to pivot said pawl out of the path of said reed end until a predetermined point in the travel of said plunger in a predetermined direction.

7. A signalling device comprising a diaphragm, a plurality of reeds, means for mounting said reeds on said diaphragm parallel to the plane thereof, respective independent means associated with said reeds for selectively causing said reeds to vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the plane of said diaphragm, transmitter means and means for mounting said diaphragm on said transmitter means in direct vibration-conducting relation therewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 721,817 Mellett Mar. 3, 1903 732,443 Redfield June 30, 1903 2,147,710 Mallina Feb. 21, 1939 2,190,307 Bascom Feb. 13, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS 418,004 Great Britain Oct. 17, 1934 

